Screen for photographic camera-lenses.



PATENTED JAN. 9, 1906.

H. S. MILLER. SCREEN FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC CAMERA LENSES.

APPLICATION FILEDMAY 6. 1904.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

lmm d No. 809,830. PATENTED JAN. 9, 1906 H. S. MILLER.

SCREEN FOR PHOTOGRAPHIG CAMERA LENSES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 6. 1904.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

zwm mg To all whom it may concern:

UNITED STATES PAEENT onFIoE.

HENRY SAMUEL MILLER, OF FOND DU LAC, W1SCONSIN.

SCREEN FOR PHOTOGRAPHIG CAMERA-LENSES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. Jan. 9, 1906.

Be it known that I, HENRY SAMUEL MIL- LER', a citizen of the United States, residing at'Fond du Lac, in the count of Fond du Lac and State of Wisconsin, aveinvented new and useful Improvements in Screens for- Photographic Camera -Lenses, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has relation to the art of photography; and it has for its objects the provision of a method and means whereby the light or the effects of light upon a picture may in the act of exposure be broken up or controlled over a part or the whole of the picture, or, in other words, the provision of a method or means whereby the light may be controlled so as to be retarded, as it were, over a part or parts of the picture without interfering with a full exposure of the balance lens.

with the results that-will be explained hereinafter.

In carrying the invention into effect I employ screens of the character presently described, one or more at a time, before a photographic lens and connect or adjust them in lace as circumstances may require. The orm or constructive character of the means being so variable and the manner of attachmentor adjustment being such that ordinary mechanical skill may readily devise means'to suit varied needs, it is diflicult, if not almost impossible, to illustrate a form of device best, suited for supportin the screens before the Still in order tfiat'my invention maybe made clear I have shown a device for the purpose mentioned, even though the device as shown may not be as well adapted for such purpose as some other form or device. My claim for invention relates to the screens before the lens and not to any particular mechanical means for holding such screens.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a por tion of a camera and lens and support equi ped with a screen-support and screen, the atter being adjusted in downward position. Fig..2 is a view similar to Fig. 1, the screen being adjusted in higher position.- Fig. 3 is a front view; and Figs. 4 to 7, inclusive,

are views suggesting different arrangements of the perforations of the screens.

In t 0 example herein illustrated the camera 1 has the usual lens-holder 2, and upon the latter is s rung or applied a clasp 3 from the lower su ace of which extends downward and forward a suitable distance an arm 6, emiipped with a sleeve 9, the function of w 'ch will be presently apparent.

A holder 4, preferably rectangular in general outline and adapted to receive thereinto through its upper open portion the screens 5 andprovide for suitably holding the same, has fixed centrally to its bottom edge a pref- 'erably rod-like handle 8, inserted into and sustained in position by the sleeve 9, and whereby said holder, with the screen placed therein, may be adjusted with relation to the lens-holder as circumstances require.

The screens, as shown, are provided with different arrangements of perforations to adapt them to variously control the light on various pictures. The screens shown in Figs. 4 to 7, inclusive, have each a different arran ement of perforations to be partly or entire y within the range of the lens for the purpose of breaking up or controlling the rays of light striking through that portion of the lens coveredby the perforated screens, causing a diffusion and retardation of the light on all of the picture as desired, placing the highest lights where most desired and retarding locally the exposure of light on any portion of the picture according to the arrangement of perforations in the screens used.

It is here noted that in the use of my perforated screen such screen does not cover but freely admits the light to and fully develops such portions of the picture as require t e greater amountof exposureas, for instance, the face and the likewhich it may be desired to disclose therein, while the light is restrained by t he use of the-perforated screen from the portions of the picture which ordinarily receive too intense an exposuresuch, for instance, as white lacework, white dresses, draperies, and the like. While to a certain extent a diffusion of light results from the use ofthis invention on such portions of the picture as have been retarded in exposure, nevertheless the invention is not primarily intended or claimed as a diffuser such as would result from the use of a semitransparent screen covering the whole of the exposure.

It will be seen from the foregoing that the invention consists in restrainin or modifying the exposure of a plate or those portions of a plate which ordinarily receive too intense draperies, &c.-in portraits. The invention is indeed intended principally for portrait work.

Referring to the drawings, a erforated screen 5, best suited to the particu ar picture being taken, will be slid into place in the holder 4, and then by taking hold of the handle 8 the user may slide the screen in accordance with the natural light upon t picture, so as to deliver the same in proper i tensity at points where required in order that the picture will be of a substantially perfect char acter when produced, needing little, if any, retouching, and in any event producing apicture of improved effect.

My invention is not to be confounded with the art of vignetting in which the pictures are produced having merely no sharply-delined boundary-lines.

I claim 1. A foraminous screen effective for the full exposure of the lenses or their exposure to a modified degree for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination with a photographic camera-lens of a screen having an opaque surface or area and provided with numerous perforations produced directly therein in py- 1ramidal form or outline, in the line of the ens.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY SAMUEL MILLER.

Witnesses:

F. W. CnADBoURNE, W. E. GRIswoLD. 

